Visiting students from Hong Kong have (A)H1N1 virus

By Jimmy Chuang / STAFF REPORTER

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday confirmed that six medical students from Hong Kong who came to Taiwan to participate in the Asian Medical Students Conference were infected with the (A)H1N1 virus.

The CDC also said that at least another 20 students attending the conference may be infected. None of the six students confirmed as infected was in a serious condition.

The conference, hosted by the Medical Students’ Association-Taiwan, began on Saturday and will continue through this Saturday. More than 400 medical students from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia are participating.

“It began when seven students from Hong Kong began to develop a fever on July 26, followed by another 15 from other countries,” said Chen Yu-jung (陳禹戎), chairman of the conference and a student of National Yang Ming University. “I called 1922 to contact the CDC.”

Chen said that conference activities would continue. The CDC endorsed the decision while officials said that the outbreak was under control.

The CDC said the six students were paying for their medical expenses since they were not insured. With doctors’ permission, they were staying at their hotel rather than in hospital since they only displayed minor symptoms.

Meanwhile, a teacher and 33 students from Tucheng Senior High School in Tainan City suspected of having swine flu tested negative for the virus yesterday.

A total of 141 students from the high school went on a day trip to Kaohsiung on Friday. On Monday, 33 of them and a teacher began to show severe flu symptoms.

School authorities closed the school for three days and reported the outbreak to Tainan City Government’s Department of Health.

“They all have regular flu and it is not swine flu,” said Wang Min-hua (王敏華), a spokeswoman for the department.